Starstruck and Wavestruck
by WhazzupPeeps
Summary: Kelly's new boyfriend David returns to Surfer's Paradise and wants to take up surfing along with her. Also, Reef and the gang are stoked to meet a famous surfer-turned-wrestler who's in town to surf and to main-event a wrestling show. OCs included.
1. A Happy Return

**CHAPTER 1 - A HAPPY RETURN (OR REEF AND THE SURFIN' GRAPPLER)**

**This story is set a week after the events of "Luck Has a Way" and "The Satellite Dish" in my story timeline. Officially, I'm classifying this as a Kelly fanfic, featuring the return of her new boyfriend David Hughes (my first OC) and with much of the story devoted to them, but I'm also including a subplot where Reef and the _Stoked_ gang meet a surfer-turned-pro wrestler (represented by a new OC here) who's come to Surfer's Paradise to surf its famed waves before he headlines a wrestling show in Sunset Beach the following night (the "Starstruck" part of the story title). Kelly and David do figure into the subplot to some degree later in the story (and no, David doesn't become a wrestler or get offered to become one [LOL]), but the focus of the main plot here will have the two new lovebirds taking up surfing (hence the "Wavestruck" part).**

**Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy the ride. :D  
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Down at Surfer's Paradise on an early Friday evening, it was just after 7:00 p.m. and Kelly had called it a day over at the Pirate Ship dining lounge. Officially, her shift as the restaurant's manager and head waitress ended an hour earlier, but she had stayed on for the next hour afterward to tally up and account for the day's meal bills and other expenses incurred by the restaurant. Now free for the weekend, after changing from her pirate work costume to her regular outfit of a red sleeveless top and knee-length khaki cargo shorts, Kelly was waiting outside in front of the hotel's main entrance, waiting for the Whalebus to arrive.

A week earlier, during what had been an unusually busy week for the Pirate Ship (which had been quite stressful for her during her shifts there that week), Kelly had met and served a handsome stranger who arrived at the restaurant for an early dinner late into her Friday shift. The young man, named David, turned out to be an exception that week to the array of demanding and difficult customers that mostly gave the Pirate Ship's wait staff fits during that time, as he had been polite and gentlemanly to Kelly and lent her a sympathetic ear when she told him of the stressful work week she had been through. After paying for his dinner and giving her a big $100 tip for her trouble to make up for the past week, David then surprised Kelly by asking her out on a date, which she eagerly accepted. While the two enjoyed each other's company, that date had not gone as smoothly as planned due to a few mishaps over its course, ranging from Kelly nearly being stung by a wasp that had popped out of the bouquet of roses David gave her, to an incident where the bratty brothers Todd and Mark Marvin had dumped a tub of popcorn over the couple's heads from the balcony of the Big Wave Theatre while at the movies, to when David nearly choked on a chocolate-covered strawberry while he and Kelly were enjoying a post-movie dessert at a nearby restaurant in Sunset Beach.

Despite those little problems, Kelly and David ended up clicking as a couple as they went on a second date the next day, throwing more activities like swimming, bike-riding to and from Sunset Beach, jet-skiing and joining a beach volleyball game into the date's itinerary, along with dinner at a sidewalk café, a return to the hotel where David serenaded Kelly with romantic songs on his acoustic guitar at the hotel pool, then a moonlight walk on the hotel beach to end the night. When David left on Sunday to return to his hometown of Victoria via seaplane, Kelly exchanged photos, phone numbers and e-mail addresses with him as they said their goodbyes at the seaplane terminal, with David promising that he would come back to see her soon. Kelly, whose demeanor had changed from mean, selfish and snappish to more pleasant to be around thanks to David's influence (which did not escape the notice of some of her fellow hotel staff), was happy that she was involved in a romantic relationship, even though she knew that it would be a long-distance relationship where she would keep in touch with him online and via telephone and see him in person periodically - so when she was webcam-chatting with him online on her laptop the Thursday night before, Kelly was pleasantly surprised when David told her that he would be coming back to Surfer's Paradise that weekend.

Just before quarter after seven, Kelly became excited with anticipation as she saw the Whalebus arrive on the hotel grounds from picking up passengers from the seaplane terminal at the waterfront near downtown Sunset Beach, then pull up in front of the main entrance. Watching the entry door to the bus, she became giddy with glee when the door opened and the first passenger to step off the bus was David, carrying his suitcase and with his guitar case slung across his back, who smiled the moment he saw her. "_Eeeee!_ Oh, yay!" Kelly exclaimed joyfully as she ran over to David, threw her arms around him and began kissing him. Although he was taken by surprise by Kelly's enthusiastic greeting, David quickly got into it and kissed her back while hugging her as she raised her left foot behind her. "It's so good to see you again," Kelly said after a blissful sigh, when the couple finished kissing.

"It's good to see you too," David replied. "If I'd known I'd be getting this big a reception, I'd come up here every weekend," he added with a chuckle, making Kelly giggle as well.

"I'm glad you had no problems making it into town," Kelly said as she walked arm-in-arm with David through the front entrance doors to the lobby. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet," David said, "but dinner was the first thing I had planned for when I arrived, if you'd consider joining me. You still working right now?"

"Nope, I went off-duty over an hour ago," Kelly said. "So I'll just be another customer at the Pirate Ship, but I'd love to join you for dinner. First thing though, let's get you checked in at the front desk."

"Sure," David said. "So, what's good on the menu tonight?"

"Well," Kelly said with a flirtatious sly glance and smile, "I hear the chicken stir-fry's pretty tasty."

"Sounds good," David said. "With rice or noodles?"

"Either kind's good," Kelly replied as she and David arrived at the front desk. "Stay away from the calamari though, that stuff's really gross," she added, remembering the time she had ordered some for dinner during her blind date with Bummer a while back, not knowing what it was until she saw it on her plate.

"I hear you," David agreed, understanding what she meant. "Not a big fan of squid either."

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Meanwhile, back on the Whalebus after Kelly and David went into the hotel, another passenger, the last one to get off the bus, gathered up his surfboard and a large gym bag carrying his clothes and other belongings. The stranger, a tall man with shaggy blond hair and a muscular build, had arrived at Surfer's Paradise with plans for going surfing at the beach nearby, but upon arriving at the hotel and looking the outside over once, began rethinking his decision to do so. "So, this is it?" the stranger asked the Kahuna as he walked up to the front of the bus and looked out through the windshield.

"Yep, this is it, dude," Kahuna replied. "The one and only Surfer's Paradise resort."

"Yikes," the stranger then said. "Maybe it's just me, but this place looks like Kook Central, nothing like what I remember about it. Sure hope the surfing here makes up for it."

"You know it, dude," Kahuna said. "Trust the Big Kahuna's word on it."

"Works for me," said the stranger. "Thanks, Kahuna. If I don't see you later on, I'll see you for sure tomorrow night at the gym in Sunset Beach for the show."

"You got it, compadre," said Kahuna as the stranger said goodbye and got off the Whalebus, then went into the lobby with his gear. _Nope, nothing like I remember it,_ the stranger thought to himself as he looked around the lobby and noticed the Pirate Ship, the lobbyquarium, the Wipeout Whale statue and all other Wipeout-related items decorating the lobby, then shrugged his shoulders and walked toward the front desk to check in.

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Meanwhile, Reef, Broseph and Ripper, having just finished their respective shifts, emerged from the staff locker room into the lobby, all feeling amped up about their planned surf session at the Office, where they would be joined later by Johnny, Fin, Lo and Emma. "Dudes, I'm feelin' _so_ psyched up for tonight," Reef remarked as he pumped his fist in the air. "Kahuna called me earlier and said to expect good waves out there, maybe even triple overhead. It's gonna be far out, bros!"

"Yeah, mate, we know," Ripper said. "Me and Broseph got messaged by Kahuna too. You good to go too, Broseph?"

"You know it, yo," Broseph said. "Can't wait to see the honeys hit the waves either. I want to see how much Emma's improved since I started teachin' her on her first week here."

"Hey, between you and Fin teachin' her, Emma's improving bit by bit with each sesh," Ripper said. "Before you know it, she'll be good enough to start surfin' competitively, maybe even good enough to compete in Gromfest."

"_Pfft,_ yeah right!" Reef scoffed. "Emma may be getting better, but even with Fin teaching her, I'm still gonna take Gromfest over both of them. The judges might as well get the trophy engraved for me right now, 'cause when I get out there, it'll be no contest."

"Don't let Fin hear you say that, bra," Broseph said in response. "You know how she feels about you bragging 'bout how you're better than her or any other chiquita on the surf."

"And you know what they say about pride too, mate," Ripper added.

"Dudes, do I look worried?" Reef said. "I've got Gromfest in the bag, and no amount of Fin getting in my face, calling me a 'kook' or a 'squid' or beating up on me is gonna change that."

"Okay mate, it's your funeral," said Ripper with a shrug. Remembering something that crossed his mind a moment later, he then added, "Hey, you guys plannin' on heading to Sunset Beach tomorrow night for that wrestling show there at the gym?"

"I wish," Reef said. "That event's been sold out for a while, dude. The tickets were already gone by the time I heard about it."

"Woulda loved to go too, but Bummer kept me so busy bellhopping I couldn't make time to get a ticket before they sold out," Broseph said.

"Too bad," said Ripper. "I heard it's gonna be an epic show, mates. There'll even be a championship match that night, the Pacific Coast title's goin' on the line at the show and you'll never believe who's comin' in to challenge for it!"

"Really?" Reef asked, his curiosity becoming piqued. "Who is it?"

Before Ripper could answer, he spotted someone checking in at the front desk who looked familiar to him. "Rather than tell you guys," he said, "how 'bout I just show you? Follow me, mates!" Ripper then led Reef and Broseph over to the front desk, where the stranger who had been the last to get off the Whalebus after talking with Kahuna was having his room reservation confirmed with Johnny.

"Wait a second," Reef said to Ripper, now beginning to recognize the stranger as he got a better look at him. "Is that who I think it is?"

"The one and only," Ripper replied as the guys got closer to the front desk. Before Ripper could introduce himself and the others to the stranger, though, Reef shot ahead of him and beat him to the punch. "Excuse me, Dick Starbuck?" Reef asked. "The surfer turned wrestler?"

"That'd be me, dude," the stranger said in a laid-back California surfer drawl, looking surprised but not at all annoyed to be recognized, as he turned to see Reef, Broseph and Ripper.

"Oh man, it's cool to finally get to meet you!" said Reef as he exchanged a high-five with Starbuck. "I've followed your careers in both surfing and wrestling since I was a kid."

"Hey, it's always gnarly to get to meet fans when I'm out and about," Starbuck replied with a grin.

"So what brings you by here?" Reef asked. "I guess you're here for the killer waves we get around Sunset Beach."

"That's part of it," Starbuck said. "I'm also in town 'cause I'm headlining the wrestling show at the Sunset Beach Memorial Gym tomorrow night, but I want to get a surf sesh in at the beach before then. You guys all surf?" he added, addressing Reef, Broseph and Ripper, who all answered in the affirmative.

"Name's Ripper," the Australian surfer introduced himself to Starbuck as they high-fived. "Actually, we met once before. I went to see you wrestle at a show in Gold Coast City back in 2004 when you passed through Queensland on tour, and I got your autograph when you were signin' for the kids before your match. I know you probably wouldn't remember me, but..."

"Wait, wait, let me guess," Starbuck interrupted, thinking back quickly. "You were the kid with the blue-black hair wearing a Brisbane Lions jersey when you were in the autograph crowd, right?"

Ripper, who had worn the jersey Starbuck recalled at that time, was amazed. "Whoa, epic!" he replied, pleasantly surprised.

"I never forget about the places I go to wrestle where the surfing's premo," Starbuck said, "and the Gold Coast has some epic waves, dude."

"Yo dude, I'm Broseph," Broseph then introduced himself. "Heard all about the time you surfed professionally before you turned to wrestling," he added as he also high-fived Starbuck.

"Believe it, bro," Starbuck said. "Those were good times, but these days I surf for the thrills, not for the bills. Soul surfer now, my man."

"You too?" said Broseph. "_Cool_. Always been a believer in surfing for fun only and respecting the ocean myself. You ever been here to surf before?"

"Actually, I did come to Sunset Beach once years ago for a junior surf competition, before this hotel was built," Starbuck recalled, looking around the lobby. "There was another smaller hotel here on this site back then, back before the current owner bought it and bulldozed it to make way for this place. Don't know how you guys feel about this hotel, but it looks like Kooksville to me."

"We know what you mean, dude," Reef said as he, Broseph and Ripper nodded in agreement. "That's what we thought too when we first came here to work earlier this month."

"Ah, so you guys all work here?" Starbuck said. When the guys replied yes, he added, "Cool, dudes. You must all be familiar with the same surf spots I've been to around here."

"We are," said Reef, "but there's one place around here you probably haven't heard of..." Before Reef could finish his sentence though, Ripper clamped his hand over Reef's mouth and took him aside, just out of earshot from Starbuck and Broseph.

"Oy mate, what're you tryin' to do?" Ripper said to Reef, _sotto voce_. "If you're tryin' to spill the beans about the Office, don't get any crazy ideas. Last I checked, that's still our secret surf spot for hotel staff only. Remember what happened when Emma introduced an outsider to the Office and he brought his kook friends along afterward?"

"Relax dude, I still remember," Reef replied. "But this is different, though. This is Dick Starbuck we're talking about, man. The dude's a world-class surfer and he's a celebrity, made a name for himself in both surfing and wrestling. And he said it himself, he's a soul surfer and he knows the surf code. You should know that from reading about him in all the surfing magazines."

"I know that, mate, but still..." Ripper said.

"Besides, I know you're a fan of his, just like I am and like Broseph is," Reef added. "C'mon dude, what could it hurt to let him check the Office out? Since he's a soul surfer, I'm sure he'd respect the sanctity of the Office like he would any other surf spot he's been to."

Ripper rolled his eyes in resignation. "Okay, fine," he said. "You can tell him."

After Reef and Ripper returned to the front desk where Starbuck and Broseph still were, Reef picked up where he left off as he addressed Starbuck. "So, as I was saying before I got interrupted," he said, "there's a place here I think you may never have been to your first time here. I can guarantee you that when you come to this surf spot me and my friends know of, you'll consider it the ultimate surfing experience. We sure do."

"Hey, I'm always up for checking out new surfing spots," Starbuck said. "If it's really as tubular as you say it is, I'll have to see it for myself. Is tomorrow good for you guys to show me this spot?"

"You bet!" an enthused Reef said, with Broseph and Ripper also putting on megawatt grins behind him. "Any time when we're not working's a good time to catch waves."

"Radical, dudes," Starbuck said with a grin, to the delight of Reef, Broseph and Ripper. "Tomorrow morning then, say ten o'clock. I'll meet you guys back here 'round then."

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**Up next, Kelly and David recruit Fin to teach them surfing.**

**_Stoked_ (c) Fresh TV Inc. and Teletoon. I don't own the show or any of the characters except David Hughes and Dick Starbuck.**


	2. A Visit to the Roach Motel

**CHAPTER 2 - A VISIT TO THE "ROACH MOTEL"**

**Okay, I did promise in the capsule preview of this chapter in Chapter 1 that my new OC, surfer/wrestler Dick Starbuck, would join Reef and the gang over at the Office to do some surfing, but due to the length of this chapter as originally written, I've decided to split the chapter in two, with Kelly and David's meeting with Fin at the staff house (the "Roach Motel" of the chapter title, as nicknamed by Fin) being Chapter 2 and Reef and company and Starbuck at the Office, originally part of this chapter, now split off as Chapter 3. I'm also beginning a bit of a back story for Kelly, which I'll expand further upon in future stories, in this chapter.**

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Following dinner at the Pirate Ship, Kelly and David took a shortcut through the hotel pool area to head to the staff house. As with last week, Kelly had not wanted to take David to see the staff house because of its substandard condition, but David, who wanted to meet Kelly's coworkers at the hotel, persuaded her to show him where she and the other staff members stayed, so she reluctantly agreed.

"You know Kelly, I really enjoyed going jet skiing with you at Sunset Beach last week," David said, broaching the subject of water sports as the couple walked along. "I'd never tried it until you suggested it, but I had a lot of fun doing it once I got into it."

"See, I told you you'd like it once you got the hang of it," Kelly said with a smile. "It never hurts to try something new when you really want to."

"True," David said, returning Kelly's smile with one of his own. "That's why I was thinking this time around, I want to take up something else new here."

"Sure, what's that?" Kelly asked.

"I'd like to learn how to surf," David replied. "It's another water sport I've never tried either, but it looked like fun when I watched some surfers on the waves here last week."

"Sounds cool," Kelly said. "I don't think I could try it, though. Remember when I said I don't surf?"

"Yeah, I do," David said. "But I should ask, have you ever actually tried to surf?"

Kelly hesitated momentarily in her answer, an uneasy smirk crossing her face. "Well," she said, "it's not that I've never tried. I like to think I'm pretty athletic and active, I played sports in school and was involved in minor softball for a few years, and I even took ballet and tango classes when I was younger."

"Okay, and?" David wondered.

"I did try surfing once the first year I came to work at Surfer's Paradise last year," Kelly explained, "but I just couldn't get into it then, so I gave it up."

"Ah, okay," David said. "I think the operative word here was 'then'. You tried surfing then and you gave up on it, but that doesn't mean you couldn't try it again now. Like you just said, it never hurts to try something new - or in your case, to try again."

"Are you serious?" Kelly said.

"I am," David replied, nodding. "You have the athletic background you mentioned, and your background in ballet means you've got the poise, balance and grace to be able to stay on a board long enough to surf a wave. I think you'd be a natural at surfing if you gave it another shot, Kelly."

Kelly was touched by David's faith and confidence in her, as well as his encouragement. "You really think I could do it again?" she asked.

"If you're willing," David said with a smile.

"Well, okay," Kelly said with a nervous giggle. "If you're willing to take a chance at it, then so am I." Continuing on as she and David approached the staff house, she added, "If we're going to take up surfing though, we have to get lessons from someone who knows the ropes about surfing."

"Sure," David agreed. "Anyone you know here who could teach us?"

"Oh, I've got someone in mind," Kelly said, thinking about fellow staff member Fin McCloud. The two girls had not talked much to each other since Fin first arrived at Surfer's Paradise, in part because each worked in separate hotel services (Kelly at the Pirate Ship restaurant, Fin in Housekeeping Services), but mainly because Fin was friends with Lo and Emma, two of the Pirate Ship waitresses working under Kelly, who had not gotten along well with them from when they first came to work at the dining lounge until David came into the picture. As a result of her relationships with Lo and Emma improving since then (although, at that point, they were now more like casual acquaintances to her than full friends) thanks to David's influence, Kelly was more willing to give Fin, who was protective of her friends, a chance.

Kelly and David then arrived at the staff house, giving David his first look at the accommodations for the hotel summer staff. "Well, this is it," Kelly said. "This is where I stay."

"Hmm," David said, raising an eyebrow and smirking as he gave the dilapidated-looking staff house a once-over look. "This place looks kind of, how can I put it politely...rustic?" he commented on the state of the building's exterior.

"You could," Kelly quipped, "but I've said much worse about it."

"I believe it," David said as he leaned against a post supporting a stairrail leading to the front porch. As he did so though, the post gave way unexpectedly and caused David to fall backward with a yelp, knocking over several surfboards leaning against the porch rail as he hit the ground and toppling the boards over onto him.

"David!" a surprised Kelly said out of sudden panic as she ran over to David, who propped himself up on his elbows as Kelly kneeled by him with concern and moved the surfboards on top of him aside. "Are you okay?"

After letting out a groan, David answered, "That was a bit of a shock there, but I'll survive."

At the same time as David fell over, Fin, who was coming outside through the front doors, witnessed what happened and ran over to check on him. "Wow, are you all right?" she asked as she and Kelly helped David back up.

"It's nothing that a little TLC can't fix," David replied, looking over to Kelly as he answered. Turning back to Fin, he extended his right hand to her. "I'm David Hughes," he introduced himself as Fin took his hand and shook it. "Happy to meet you."

"Fin McCloud," Fin said, returning the greeting. "Same here." Glancing over to Kelly a moment, she then added, "I guess you've already met Kelly, right?"

"Sure have," David said. "We've known each other a week already. Did she tell you about us?"

A light then dawned on Fin. "Hey, yeah!" the blonde tomboy said with a snap of her fingers upon her realization. "You're the guy I heard about that Kelly went on those dates with last week."

"Yep, that's me," David responded with a chuckle, making Fin laugh as well.

_Okay, who told Fin about me and David,_ Kelly thought to herself. _Was it Johnny, or did Princess Lo and Surfer Girl Emma spill the beans? Oh, never mind Kelly,_ she continued with a sigh of resignation._ It's going to get out to the rest of the staff in time anyway, so I might as well roll with it._ "I'm glad I found you anyway, Fin," she then said to Fin as the two girls and David went inside the staff house. "There's something I wanted to ask you."

"Um, sure, what's that?" said a cautious Fin, who was wondering why Kelly wanted to talk to her after the times the Pirate Ship manager had treated Lo and Emma poorly up until recently. Even though Lo and Emma had told her about Kelly's recent improvement in attitude after she met David, Fin was still somewhat skeptical of her and would need some convincing.

"David and I want to learn how to surf," Kelly explained, "and I understand from Emma that you're the go-to girl for teaching surfing. I'd have asked Reef since he's the official instructor here, but Emma highly recommends you since you taught her."

"Oh, well then," Fin said, brightening up. "You've come to the right person then. You're right about Reef being the official surf teach here, but..." Beckoning Kelly to come closer, Fin then whispered in her ear, "Between you and me, Kelly, Reef couldn't teach a squirrel to eat nuts. He's more about grandstanding and showing off than about teaching the basics."

After laughing at Fin's comment about Reef, Kelly said, "All right, you're hired then. How much is it usually per lesson?"

"Well," Fin began, "the rate for the hotel instructors is $100 per person per lesson, but the hotel takes a cut of that. I teach privately, so I charge $80 per. You cool with that?"

"Sounds good," David said. "I wouldn't really mind paying a little extra for me and Kelly though, if you come recommened by your friend."

"Okay, sure," Fin agreed. "Hey, I gotta meet the rest of the gang to go surfing," she added, noticing the time on the clock on the living room wall, "but I'll meet you two at the hotel beach tomorrow morning for your lesson, around nine o'clock."

"Great, nine o'clock's good for us," David said as Fin grabbed her surfboard and said goodbye to him and Kelly. "See you then, Fin." Looking around the living room after Fin left, David then remarked, "Well, the living room here's not too shabby-looking, but not so great either. I noticed there's a widescreen TV in here, though. Looks nice."

"It's brand new," Kelly said. "The owner's daughter bought it for the staff house last week to replace the old black-and-white set we had. We've also got satellite hooked up to it too, so the staff staying here can watch whatever they like." Unknown to Kelly, Lo, whom she was referring to, was inspired to buy the TV and satellite receiver (along with a second receiver hooked up to the TV in Reef, Broseph and Johnny's room upstairs on the staff house's third floor for the guys to watch), using an emergency money stash she had tucked away, by a dream she had on the same weekend Kelly first met David.

"The owner's daughter," David said. "You talked about her before on our first date, right?"

"You've actually seen her a couple of times before," Kelly confirmed. "She's one of my waitresses over at the dining lounge. I also said hi to her when she passed by us at poolside on our second date last Saturday. She's working for me _and_ she lives here at the staff house as her punishment by her dad for that party she threw that I told you about."

"Let's see... Pretty girl, long brown hair with a purple flower in it, a little shorter than you," David recalled. "Oh yeah, she was the waitress who was almost about to serve me when I first walked in, before you sent her over to another customer."

"Yeah, that's right," Kelly said with a nervous giggle.

"Ah, okay," David said, nodding. "I guess if she's a friend of Fin's too, we'll probably meet her later on."

"They do hang out together along with a few others here, so I'm sure we will," Kelly said. Just then, she felt something crawling slowly up her bare lower right leg, then looked down and saw a cockroach there. Letting out a shrill scream, Kelly shook the roach off of her leg, then ran over and squashed the creepy crawler under her heel where it landed on the floor. "Ugh, I _hate_ cockroaches!" she said, shuddering with revulsion and feeling her skin crawl at the thought of the roach crawling up her leg.

"As long as you're okay," David said as he put his hand on Kelly's shoulder, trying to calm her down.

"I will be, once I scrub my leg with bleach where it crawled," Kelly said, half-joking. As she looked back down, she then noticed something on top of David's left sneaker. Gasping, Kelly pointed and said, "David, your shoe!"

"What?" David said, looking down to his shoes and noticing that another roach was crawling around on his left shoe. "Oh, geez!" he said abruptly as he jumped and banged the toe of the shoe against the floor a few times to shake the roach off, then squashed it underfoot as well. Shaking his head in disgust and then letting out a sigh of relief, David turned to Kelly. "Okay, you know what I'm thinking right now?"

"That this house should be condemned?" Kelly remarked.

"Not quite, but pretty close," David replied. "Actually, I'm thinking you shouldn't have to be staying in a place like this, not after what I've seen here. I thought that if it's okay with you, you could stay the weekend in my room back at the hotel."

"Well, that sounds great, but..." Kelly said.

"Wait," David continued. "I'm not suggesting anything fishy here either. I can get extra sheets and a pillow for myself and sleep on the reclining chair in my room, and you can have the bed. You okay with that?"

"Not a problem at all, but that's not the thing though," Kelly replied. "The hotel's day manager has an issue with staff staying in the guest rooms," she explained, referring to Bummer. "He wouldn't like the idea of me staying with you in your room."

"Well, we'll just make sure he doesn't find out," David said with a conspiratorial wink. "And even if he does, I'll just ask him why he allows you and the rest of his staff to stay in substandard living conditions here. If he raises a stink about it, I'll just go over his head and speak directly to the hotel owner about the issue. My dad happens to know Mr. Ridgemount, so I think I can get his attention," he said reassuringly to Kelly.

Relieved that David had her back regarding Bummer, who she knew had a policy of always trying to please hotel guests, Kelly smiled at her boyfriend and put her hand on his arm. "Okay, then," she said, then turning to head toward the stairs. "I'll go grab my bag and get a few things to take along."

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**Coming up next, Fin schools Kelly and David in the art of surfing, and Starbuck discovers the Office.**

**Meanwhile, reviews are welcome.**


	3. Hangin' Ten the Hard Way

**CHAPTER 3 - HANGIN' TEN THE HARD WAY**

**As promised, here's what I originally planned to include in Chapter 2. In addition to what's going to happen in the main Kelly/David storyline, I've added a little reference to the episode "Reef, Broseph and Emma's Totally Stupid Adventure" in the first part of this chapter (see if you can guess what it is). I've also got some minor ReeFin action happening in the second part of this chapter (mainly involving a little prank Fin has in store for the Reefster), and Dick Starbuck reveals that one of the groms is a familiar name to him.**

**The title also refers to what happens to Reef in this chapter, so read on. :D  
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After waking up around quarter to eight in the morning in David's hotel room and ordering breakfast from Room Service, Kelly and David went down to the hotel beach, where Fin was waiting for them to begin teaching them surfing. The couple carried rented surfboards with them, with Kelly's board a cobalt blue color with twelve glittery gold stars down the middle of the board, while David's board was black with paint splatters in neon colors of blue and green. Kelly was wearing her red-and-white striped bikini, while David had on boardshorts matching the colors and patterns of his surfboard, which impressed Kelly very much as it gave her a chance to check out David's buffed physique for the first time.

Fin, who had arrived at the beach a couple of minutes early and was waiting for Kelly and David to arrive, saw the couple as they showed up with their boards. "Hey guys, glad you made it," she said, smiling. "All set to go?"

"Raring to go, Fin," David replied.

"As ready as I can be," Kelly joined in.

"Cool, let's get started," Fin said. "First thing I want to do before we get out on the water is lay down something all experienced surfers know about, called the Surf Code. The first part of the Surf Code is that the surfer who gets to their feet on their board first and is closest to the whitewater, owns that wave in theory and gets to ride it. If two surfers get to their feet at the same time on an unbroken wave, they can either choose to ride that wave together or they can decide who'll take that wave first, but always remember that no wave is worth fighting over."

"Makes sense," David agreed with a nod.

"Okay, part two," Fin continued, "and this is the prime directive of the Surf Code - never, _ever_ drop in on another surfer when that surfer's riding their wave. 'Dropping in' means to cut in front of another surfer and cause them to wipe out, and dropping in on someone on their wave is a good way to make the dropper-in, or 'kook' as they're better known in surfer culture, an outcast or for him to make enemies of other surfers. So, long story short, never drop in on another surfer."

"Worry not, I wouldn't wanna do that," Kelly said with a small smirk and her hands raised in acknowledgment of Fin's advice.

Following the Surf Code rundown, Fin began the lesson in earnest by showing Kelly and David how to find their balance points on their boards to avoid "pearling", or having the board's nose dig into the water. Fin then moved on to showing the couple the proper way to paddle their boards in the water, using the crawl stroke, while giving them vests to wear beforehand to protect them from board rash. She then showed them how to sit on their boards out on the water, then to stand on them while holding their hands in "hula hands" position to keep their balance. After practicing moving into standing position on their boards on the sand first, Kelly and David then tried it on the water, with each falling off their boards after losing their balance several times while Fin encouraged them to keep trying, before they succeeded in remaining standing on their boards on the water.

"Nice work guys, you finally got standing on your boards down pat," a pleased Fin said. She then instructed Kelly and David on surfing safety, including keeping their beginners' board leashes tied around their ankles, before asking them, "Okay, you ready to catch your first wave?" After the couple said yes, Fin laid on her board on her stomach and began paddling out, telling them, "All right, watch what I do and follow my lead." Just before reaching the wave, Fin did a duck-dive and then stood up, went right and, keeping her body balanced and centered, rode the wave out to shore. "There you go," Fin said as she paddled back over to Kelly and David. "Who wants to give it a try now?"

"Ladies first," said David, offering Kelly the first opportunity to catch a wave.

Kelly seemed a bit nervous about attempting to surf for the first time since her first try at surfing the year before, but she was determined to give it another go. _Okay, it's now or never,_ Kelly thought to herself as she began to paddle out, remembering what Fin taught her, to catch the wave coming toward her. As she saw Fin do, Kelly took a duck-dive as she approached the wave, then stood up and, remembering Fin's instructions and also thinking about her own ballet training, centered herself on her board and kept her balance as she began to ride the wave face. As she rode toward the shore, keeping ahead of the whitewater, Kelly felt a rush of excitement and pleasure at successfully surfing a wave on her first try. "Woo-_hoooo!_" Kelly exclaimed excitedly as she skimmed onto the shore with her board. "That was awesome! I didn't think I could do it on my first try, but I did! WOO-_HOOOO!_"

"Good first try, Kelly," Fin said as she came up to meet her. "If you keep practicing and do as I showed you, it won't be your last either. No one becomes an expert on the waves overnight, but I think you've got some real potential here, so keep at it."

"Thanks, Fin," a grateful Kelly said. Taking Fin aside, she then asked her, "Could I take more lessons from you when you're available?"

"Sure, that's what I'm here for," Fin replied.

Lowering her voice, Kelly then asked, "I was wondering then, I'm trying to save up my money toward going to college after the tourist season ends, so do you think we could work out a trade - like, say, for each surfing lesson from you, I can get you free dinners at the Pirate Ship for a week?"

"Free dinners for lessons, eh?" Fin mused. "Well, it would beat the slop that the staff's had to start eating as of late. You got a deal," she added, patting Kelly on her shoulder. Turning to David, Fin then said, "Okay David, your turn! Show me what you've got."

Looking out to the next oncoming wave forming, David turned his head to look at Kelly and Fin sitting on their boards. "Okay, wish me luck," he said to the girls as he lay on his board and began to paddle out. Doing what the girls did before, David then got up on his board and caught the wave, riding it to the shore with relative ease. "Hey, not bad for my first wave," he said as he rode the board onto the sand.

"Not bad?" Kelly remarked as she got off her board and ran over to David, taking his hands into hers. "You handled that wave like you were a natural. I saw how you did out there, that was really good!"

"Kelly's right," Fin said. "Most of my students don't nail those waves successfully on their first try, but you pulled it off just like Kelly did. Get a few more lessons in the bag and you'll be able to start doing tricks on the waves."

"Nice," David remarked as he and Kelly hugged while Fin nodded in approval of her students' success.

* * *

After the surfing lesson, Kelly and Fin met with Lo and Emma and headed over to the Office to join Reef, Broseph, Johnny, Ripper and No-Pants Lance for a surf session. David did not join Kelly at the Office due to not being employed at the hotel, which puzzled Kelly and the other girls when they noticed another guy, a non-staff member with shaggy blond hair, out surfing a double-overhead wave and performing surf stunts as the guys watched and cheered. "Hang on a minute, I thought the Office was off-limits to non-staff," Kelly said. "So who's that guy out there surfing?"

"I don't know," Lo answered, "but whoever he is, he's really ripping up that wave."

"I'll get to the bottom of this," Fin said, walking up to Reef. "Hey, tuna-for-brains," she said to Reef as she tapped him on the shoulder, "what's up? Who's that guy shredding the waves out there?"

"Oh, hey babe," Reef replied as he turned and saw Fin, who simply glared at him for calling her "babe". "Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough." Moments later, Starbuck, the reason the guys were cheering, rode his board to the shore after finishing up a stunt, a backside air reverse. "Dude, that was _radical!_" an enthused Reef said as he sauntered up to Starbuck.

"Hey, you're no slouch on those waves either, bro," Starbuck replied. "That carving 360 you did was pretty epic too." Just then, he noticed that Fin, Lo, Emma and Kelly had arrived on the scene. "Whoa, cool to see you brought some more friends along, dude," Starbuck remarked to Reef as he saw the girls. "Always nice to meet the wahines."

"Ladies," Reef began as he prepared the introductions, "this is Dick Starbuck, champion surfer-turned-pro wrestler and soul surfer. Dick, meet Lo Ridgemount, the daughter of the hotel's owner."

"Hey, nice to meet you, Lo," Starbuck said as he shook hands with Lo, who smiled and giggled as she blushed visibly.

"This is Emma," Reef continued as he and Starbuck moved on to the redhaired girl with the ponytail. "She's from Calgary."

"Ah, the Stampede City," said a grinning Starbuck as he met Emma and shook hands. "Too bad Calgary's not by the ocean, but it's a radical city and the wrestling scene there's epic."

"Wow, thank you," said Emma, who also began to blush as she smiled.

"This is Kelly," Reef then said, next introducing Starbuck to the lightly-tanned girl with the dark red bobbed hair. "She runs the restaurant in the hotel lobby, the one that looks like a pirate ship."

"Hey Kelly, glad to meet you," Starbuck said, shaking Kelly's hand.

"Same here," Kelly replied with a smile. Although she had not followed surfing until recently and had not really been a wrestling fan since she was twelve, Kelly felt awed in the presence of the two-sport star and it showed.

"And last but not least," Reef finished as he moved on to Fin, "this is..."

"Fin McCloud?" Starbuck cut in, walking up to Fin. "Hey, I've read all about you and followed you in all the surfing mags. Nice to meet someone carryin' on a proud tradition," he added, shaking the blonde girl's hand. "Three international junior surfing titles is quite a notch in your belt."

"Yeah," Fin replied, surprised that Starbuck knew who she was. "I've heard about you too, and the competitive career you had before you turned to wrestling. You racked up quite a record in surfing competitions back then."

"Yeah, I did," Starbuck said. "But now I want to see what you can do out on the waves. Any tricks that a three-time champion can show me?"

"Sure, if you can show me what you got first," Fin said with a coy smile, offering up a friendly challenge.

"Okay, I'll take that action," Starbuck replied, grabbing his board and paddling out as the gang rooted him on from the shore. Upon catching the next wave, Starbuck rode up the wall of water, got inside a forming tube and rode through it for several seconds before shooting out and up off the wave lip, then doing an aerial 360 before hitting the water again and riding back to the shore to cheers and applause from the gang.

"Holy crap, that's boss!" an amazed Fin remarked as she ran up to Starbuck afterward. "You totally got into the green room before hitting the aerial 360."

"That's the move set that won me the international junior title the last year I competed as a junior," Starbuck said. "Okay Fin, your turn."

"Check this first move out," Fin said as she headed into the water. "I call it 'Le Freak'." Fin then paddled out to the wave and, keeping ahead of it, stepped up to the front of her board and, showing off the flexibility of her body, did a backbend into a handstand on the board. From there, Fin cut back to the wave, rode up its face and went off it, catching air and spinning upside down for a few seconds before she landed on the water to the amazed gang's cheers and rode back to shore, where Starbuck met with her.

"Wow Fin, those moves of yours were _totally_ epic," Starbuck remarked. "Seriously, after seeing that upside-down spin in the air, I think you've got it in you to make a career on the pro tour if you want to get into it, you're _that_ good."

"Aw, thank you," a greatly-impressed Fin said. "You really think so?"

"Heck, all that stuff Fin does is nothing compared with what I can do," Reef interrupted as he began to brag, unable to resist trying to cut down Fin's surfing abilities. "She only wishes she could rip the waves half as well as I can. I could beat her in a competition anytime, using just a fraction of the moves in my arsenal."

As Reef rambled on, an unimpressed Fin then got an idea to get back at him and put him in his place. Beckoning Starbuck over and whispering something in his ear, Fin watched with a sly look as Starbuck glanced over at Reef, then nodded to her with a grin and turned to walk up to the cocky surfer. "Hey, what's this I hear about you saying that wrestling's hokey?" Starbuck said to Reef, trying to mock-intimidate him.

"What?" Reef said, caught by surprise by Starbuck's accusation. "I never said anything like that! Why would I?"

"Don't deny it, dude," Starbuck replied, continuing the ruse as he pointed his finger in Reef's chest. "One of your friends just told me you've been telling everyone that wrestling's a joke. You really think that wrestling's a joke, _kook?_" As Starbuck spoke, Reef looked over to Fin, who grinned at him while waving, showing that she was in on what was happening.

"No, r-r-really man," Reef stammered. "I didn't tell a-a-anyone that..."

"Well, you really want to find out how much of a joke wrestling is?" Starbuck said. "Let me try a hold on you, just to show you I'm serious about my other sport." Spinning Reef around and tripping him onto his stomach on the sand, Starbuck then hooked Reef's feet in front of his knees, grabbed his wrists and pulled back on his arms, compressing Reef's shoulder blades. "I call this move the 'Hang Ten'," Starbuck said to Reef and the rest of the gang as he cinched the hold. "It's my version of a standing surfboard, an effective submission hold. So what do you say, kook?" he said to Reef while the rest of the gang, including Fin, laughed at Reef's predicament. "You still think wrestling's hokey? C'mon, what do you say?"

In pain from the submission hold, Reef had no choice but to say what Starbuck wanted to hear. "No, it's not hokey! It's not hokey at all!" he said, feeling almost ready to pass out.

Right then, Starbuck let go of the "Hang Ten" hold on Reef. Rolling over on his back after a moment as he could feel the muscles in his arms and upper back aching, Reef was then surprised when Starbuck offered his hand to help him back up. "Okay, come on up," Starbuck said, laughing as he helped Reef to his feet. "I was just messin' around with you there, dude. Actually, Fin put me up to it as a prank on you."

"Not so quick to brag now, are you?" Fin said as she walked up to an astonished Reef, whose glare she responded to with a raised eyebrow and a sly grin as she put her hands on her hips. "I never get tired of seeing you eat crow as payback for acting like a kook."

"Now, just to show there's no hard feelings, Reef," Starbuck continued, "and for showing me some of the sickest, most radical waves I've ever surfed, I've got something here for all you guys." Walking over to his gym bag and digging into it, Starbuck produced a number of tickets and handed them to each of the gang. "They're tickets for front row ringside seats at tonight's wrestling show at the Memorial Gym in Sunset Beach," he told Reef and company, who all looked thrilled to be getting the tickets. "Bell time's at 7:30 and I'll be challenging for the Pacific Coast title in the main event, so I'll see you all out there. Okay," he added, "who's all up for another round of rippin' the waves?" Nearly everyone, except for rookie surfer Kelly (who decided to wait until she got more experience before trying her luck with the waves at the Office), eagerly volunteered to join, so Starbuck took Reef, Fin and Broseph out to join him on the waves first.

Meanwhile, Lance was checking over his ticket when Ripper walked up to him. "Major score, mate!" Ripper remarked to his friend. "Never thought we'd be getting tickets for that wrestling show, let alone for front row ringside, but we've hit the jackpot today!"

"It's all good, 'cept for one thing," Lance said in response, smirking. "I already got a ringside ticket for the show. Bought it first day they went on sale."

"What?" Ripper said in surprised disbelief. "You got a ticket and you didn't think to tell me 'bout it so I could get one too?"

"Sorry man, I got mine online and they sold out minutes after I paid up," Lance said in his defence. "But at least we both got tickets now and I got a spare one, but who could I give the spare to?"

Kelly, who had been listening in on Ripper and Lance's conversation, then joined in. "I'll take it," she said to Lance. "I've got someone I could take to the show and I'd love to give him the spare."

"Serious?" Lance, who was unaware of Kelly now having a boyfriend, asked. "You've actually got a date to take with you to the wrestling show?"

"Does that sound so hard to believe?" Kelly retorted. "Of course I do. I met him at work last week and we've been dating since then. Just ask Lo and Emma, they were the first to find out."

"Okay then," Lance said, handing Kelly the extra ticket. "Enjoy." While Ripper and Lance went off to wait their turn in the surf lineup, Kelly smiled as she looked over her newly-gotten ticket, knowing what she planned to do and where to do it when she would give it to David later on.

* * *

**Next chapter, Kelly discusses her immediate future plans with David, and the gang watches Starbuck's championship challenge at the wrestling show.**

**Reviews, comments...**


	4. Chow Mein and Championships

**CHAPTER 4 - CHOW MEIN AND CHAMPIONSHIPS**

**Sorry for the long wait folks, but this chapter has been a pretty ambitious one for me to write and life outside the Internet also called. Anywho, in addition to what I addressed in last chapter's preview of this chapter, Kelly also introduces David to the rest of the gang before the wrestling show, and Starbuck reveals a family tie to someone at Sunset Beach.**

**The Cullens of Death Metal - actually, the reference to "Reef, Broseph and Emma's Totally Stupid Adventure" from Chapter 3 was Fin's comment to Kelly about having to eat the crappy food the staff started getting recently, which happened around the same time Bummer bought that golf cart of his (although Fin and the others haven't yet figured out that Bummer stole most of the staff food money to get that golf cart, but they probably will in time). Good guess anyway. :D**

**On a couple more notes, since I dropped that reference about the above-mentioned _Stoked_ episode anyway, this would mean that this fanfic is set around the time of "Reef, Broseph and Emma's Totally Stupid Adventure" or shortly thereafter. Also, as part of the fanon back story I'm giving Kelly in my storyline, I'm also giving her a hometown of Nanaimo, British Columbia (not official canon of course, as her actual hometown has not yet been revealed on the show itself).  
**

**So, without further ado...**

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* * *

**

On the night of the wrestling event at the Sunset Beach Memorial Gym, the town's main sports venue, the gang, along with Kelly and David, headed into town on the Whalebus to grab dinner prior to the show. While Reef, Fin, Broseph, Lo, Emma, Johnny, Ripper and Lance went to get burgers and fries at a burger joint, Kelly and David went off separately from the gang to enjoy dinner together at the Jade Pagoda, a Chinese restaurant close by the burger place Reef and company went to. Although the group of ten had arrived on the Whalebus together, Kelly and David had sat away from the gang in another part of the bus, as she had yet to introduce him to Reef and most of the others, although David had already met Fin and got to know her at his first surfing lesson with Kelly, and he remembered Lo from seeing her around and what Kelly told him about her, even though he had not yet officially met her.

In the meantime, Kelly had things on her mind as she fiddled around with her dinner of chicken chow mein, vegetable chop suey and breaded almond chicken with her fork, which David took notice of. "What's up, Kelly?" David asked. "Seems you haven't eaten much of your dinner since you got it. Something on your mind?"

"What? Oh, sorry," Kelly replied, snapping out of her mini-daydream. "I was thinking about what you asked me last week when we were on our way to the movies, when you asked me about getting into restaurant management in the long term."

"Oh yeah, about that," David said.

"Well, I did give it some thought for a while, even before we first met," Kelly said. "I've been working for two summers now at the dining room back at the hotel. I started there last year as one of the waitresses under the previous manager before Surfer's Paradise underwent its theme renovation last fall after the end of the summer tourist season. After the old manager left when she took a new job elsewhere, Mr. Ridgemount promoted me to manager and head waitress when I came back here after high school graduation last month, around when the DR had its reopening as the Pirate Ship."

"Not bad," David said. "Mr. Ridgemount must have seen something in you when he gave you that promotion."

"Being the hardest-working and the best of last year's wait staff did help," Kelly said. "Plus, one of the perks of being the manager is that I don't have to wear one of those 'serving wench' outfits the day manager has the girls wear when they work the DR. My pirate captain outfit kinda sucks too, but at least it's a step above the wench costumes."

"Guess I can't blame you for feeling that way," David remarked, "though I'm trying to picture you in one of those wench costumes. They can't really be too bad, can they?"

"Wise guy," Kelly quipped as David chuckled. "Anyway, I thought about taking the Hospitality Management program at Vancouver Island University down in Nanaimo, so I applied for it and got accepted for September."

"Congratulations," David said. "You must be pretty happy about getting in. Is tuition for the program going to be a problem?"

"Not really," Kelly admitted. "I saved up for my tuition by working at the hotel last year, as well as waitressing part-time after school back home in Nanaimo, and I'm saving what I earn this year toward Year Two of the program. I could also earn extra cash by continuing to waitress part-time while I'm in school, to cover any other expenses, so I think I'll be good to go. If I can apply myself and take what I've learned from my job experience here and in Nanaimo into the program, I may be able to ace it."

"Good for you, Kelly," David said approvingly. "I think this calls for a toast," he added as he raised his glass of Pepsi, and Kelly followed suit with her own Pepsi as the couple clinked their glasses together and drank a sip.

"Hey, now that I'm thinking about it," Kelly said after putting her glass down, "I've got something here for you." Grabbing her purse from where it was hanging off the back of her chair, Kelly then dug into it and pulled out two tickets. "I got two tickets for tonight's wrestling show at the Memorial Gym earlier today, and I wanted you to have one," she said as she gave David one of the tickets, the same one she got from Lance earlier.

"Cool!" David said as he checked out the ticket. "Where'd you get these?"

"Actually, they were sold out for a while," Kelly explained, "but I got these along with Fin and a few of her friends when we were out surfing elsewhere after our lesson, and you won't believe who gave them to us."

"Okay, now I'm anxious to know," David said in anticipation. "Who gave them to you?"

"It was Dick Starbuck," Kelly revealed. "The same Dick Starbuck who used to be a pro surfer before he became a wrestler. He's staying at Surfer's Paradise right now and he was surfing with us when he gave us the tickets for showing him a prime surfing spot not far from the hotel."

"No way!" David said, looking pleasantly surprised. "_The_ Dick Starbuck? I used to watch him on the old _Pacific Coast Wrestling_ show out of Vancouver when he wrestled there a few years back. He's going to be at the show tonight?"

"He's main-eventing the show," Kelly confirmed. "He's challenging for the Pacific Coast title tonight." Right after that, Kelly then watched with an amused smirk as David dropped the chopsticks he had been using for his dinner of chicken chow mein, beef & broccoli and deep-fried prawns in favor of a fork and started eating more quickly. "Hey, slow down there, cowboy," Kelly said. "You don't want to choke again like you did last week on that strawberry, do you?"

"I know," David said after swallowing a bite of his food, "but we can't waste too much time eating now, can we?"

"Don't worry," Kelly said, putting her right hand on David's left reassuringly. "We've still got time before the show starts. Besides, the gym's only a short walk from here and we'll have time for me to introduce you to the rest of Fin's friends and my co-workers."

* * *

Following dinner, Kelly and David took the short walk over to the Memorial Gym, taking their time getting there as they strolled along through downtown Sunset Beach and talked, before arriving at the gym a few minutes later, where a crowd was gathered outside waiting as the first of the ticket holders made their way in for the wrestling show. The couple did not have long to look before finding Reef, Fin and the rest of the gang in the crowd, as Fin spotted them first. "Hey Kelly, David!" Fin called in greeting as she walked up to them. "Glad you two could make it."

"Well, I wasn't expecting to go to a wrestling event on our date because I didn't even know there was one tonight at first," David explained to Fin, "but as soon as Kelly told me about the show and gave me a ticket, there was no way I could say no, especially after she told me Dick Starbuck was on the card."

"That's not the only reason we're here," Kelly joined in. "I wanted to bring David to meet everyone else, and this was the perfect place since I knew we'd all be here tonight. David," she continued as she began her introductions, "you already know Johnny from the front desk, and this is Broseph..."

"Hey bro, heard you playin' guitar for Kelly over at the pool last week when I passed by," Broseph said, greeting David with a fist bump. "Got a real good sound, man. I play a little guitar myself, so maybe we should jam some time."

"Cool, thanks Broseph," David said. "A jam session sounds good."

"Hey mate, name's Ripper," the Australian surfer said. "I play guitar too, so maybe we should make it a trio sesh - you, me and Broseph."

"Great," David replied. "When's a good time for you guys?"

"How's about later tonight at the beach, after we get back from the wrestling show?" Ripper said. "We'll make a party of it, have the whole gang hang out and listen by a bonfire while we strum our stuff."

"Perfect, I'm in," David agreed with a grin and a handshake with Ripper.

"Okay," Kelly continued, "this is Lance, and that's Emma, one of my waitresses at the DR." After David greeted Lance and Emma, Kelly took him over to the last two in the gang to be introduced. "This is Reef..."

"Hey man, you must've heard about me from Kelly," Reef started in as Fin, realizing he was about to start bragging again, rolled her eyes nearby. "I'm the official surfing instructor at the hotel and one of the best surfers among my crew, so if you want to get surfing tips sometime from the best there is, you know where to look."

David simply looked at Reef with an eyebrow raised. "Uh...yeah," he said, not seeming impressed with the cocky Reef. "Thanks, but I already know where to look for the best there is for giving surfing lessons - your friend Fin." Reef looked at David with surprise, then heard laughter and turned to see Fin giggling at his expense.

"Major burn," Fin said, continuing to laugh as Reef simply crossed his arms and glared at her. "I think I like David already. He sure knows a kook when he sees one, that's for sure."

"And finally," Kelly finished as she took David over to Lo, "This is Lauren Ridgemount, or Lo for short, another of my dining room waitresses and the hotel owner's daughter."

"Hey, nice to finally get to meet you," David said as he shook the pretty brunette's hand. "I've seen you around the hotel a few times and Kelly's told me quite a bit about you."

"Oh," said Lo with an embarrassed blush and a slight giggle. "Nothing too embarrassing, I hope."

"It's okay," David said reassuringly to Lo. "We all do crazy things at one time or another. I've even thrown a few parties myself, so it's really no big deal."

"I'm glad you agree at least," Lo said. "My dad sure didn't, that's how I ended up working at the Pirate Ship."

"Hey, maybe we should head inside and grab our ringside seats before the best ones get taken," Kelly cut in. Agreeing with Kelly's request as they wanted to sit together at ringside, the gang then followed her and David into the gym where they got their tickets checked.

While waiting with the gang and the rest of the crowd inside the gym lobby, Fin spotted the Kahuna talking with Starbuck near a table at one end of the lobby and went over to see them. "Hey Kahuna, Dick!" Fin greeted them as she approached.

"Hey, Fin!" Starbuck responded with a grin when he spotted her coming his and Kahuna's way. "Glad you and the rest of your friends made it to the show."

"Same here, chiquita," Kahuna joined in. "Dick told me 'bout the front row tickets he gave you cats earlier. Looks like you're getting the VIP treatment tonight for takin' him to ride those sick waves today."

"Yeah, we sure are," Fin agreed. "So Kahuna, if you're here tonight, who's running the movies at the Big Wave?"

"It's closed tonight, wahine," Kahuna replied. "Figured with the wrestling show running here, there won't be too many folks interested in seein' a movie tonight anyway. Besides, I was asked to be the ring announcer for this event tonight, so I said sure."

"Wow, cool," Fin said. "So who got you in to do the announcing?"

"You're lookin' at him, dudette," Starbuck said.

"Really?" a surprised Fin said. "You managed to swing Kahuna getting to introduce the wrestlers for their matches?"

"You bet," Starbuck said. "I got some pull with the promoter, so that's how Kahuna got in. I'll also let you in on a little secret - Kahuna's also my uncle."

"No way!" Fin said, her eyes going wide with pleasant surprise. "Kahuna, I had no idea you had a celebrity relative!"

"Well, I always knew I had relatives, I just didn't know I had one who's a celebrity until I found out," Kahuna quipped, making a puzzled Fin, who knew that Kahuna tended to be a bit spacey at times, raise an eyebrow.

"Last time I saw Kahuna was a few years ago, just before I got into wrestling," Starbuck explained to Fin. "I came up this way a few times to see him since he first came here from California, and that last time was the time I told him I was retiring from competitive surfing to train to become a wrestler. Not only was he cool with it, he was also stoked when I told him I'd be using a surfer dude image as my gimmick in the ring, an extension of real life for me. Anyway," he added as he checked his watch, "I gotta get over and sign autographs for the fans right now, so I'll see you and your buds at ringside for the main event, Fin."

"Sure thing," a smiling Fin said with a wave as Starbuck went over to greet the gathered crowd.

* * *

By the time of the opening bell for the wrestling show, the Sunset Beach Memorial Gym was packed to capacity. The venue, which normally hosted basketball games and other events, had bleacher seating on one side of the gym which could hold up to 600 fans, with the locker rooms located under the bleachers. With additional floor-level seating on the basketball court surrounding the wrestling ring, the gym's capacity was increased to 1100, exactly the number of fans on hand for the show that night.

Meanwhile, the entire gang of Reef, Fin, Broseph, Lo, Emma, Johnny, Ripper and Lance, joined by Kelly and David, were enjoying their front-row ringside seats for the show, getting up-close views of the action in the ring and waiting with anticipation for the main event as they sat through the show's undercard, watching three singles bouts and a tag team match before intermission.

"This day's been pretty cool so far," David said to Kelly during intermission. "Learning how to surf in the morning, then dinner and a wrestling show tonight. Do you like the show so far?"

"Well, you heard how loud I cheered and booed with the rest of the crowd," Kelly admitted, "so yeah. Last time I watched wrestling on TV was about six years ago and I haven't paid much attention to it since then, so it's like coming to a live show with you turned me back into a fan again."

"Great," David said, taking Kelly's hand in his own. "Glad I could help with that somehow. And by the way, thanks for the ticket and for introducing me to your co-workers."

"You're welcome," Kelly replied, squeezing David's hand in response. Just then, the house lights in the gym went down except for the lights over the ring where Kahuna was standing in, waiting to introduce the wrestlers. "Must be main event time," Kelly said to David as the crowd around them went wild with excitement.

After the lights went back up, the first wrestler to come out from the locker room area, a big masked man wearing black tights and a white mask with black trim around the facial openings, wearing a championship belt around his waist, came down the aisle to the ring to the loud boos and catcalls of the fans before stepping into the ring. While the masked man waited in a corner of the ring and sized up the crowd, a fast-paced instrumental surf rock song began playing over the gym's sound system, turning the boos into cheers as the song signalled Starbuck's entrance. After a few seconds of the song played, Starbuck, looking every bit his California surfer dude gimmick with colorful patterned tights and dark shades, emerged through the entrance to the aisle and the crowd went nuts as he greeted fans around the ringside area with high-fives and handshakes. Upon making his way to the side of the crowd where Reef and the gang had their front-row seats, Starbuck took time to acknowledge the gang, asking them "You dudes enjoyin' the show so far?"

"It's been awesome!" Fin replied, trying to make herself heard above the din of the fans' cheers.

"We're _totally_ stoked!" Reef, who was wearing a souvenir Dick Starbuck T-shirt he bought earlier at the merchandise stand to show his support, joined in.

After Starbuck got into the ring, the bell rang to get the fans' attention as Kahuna took the microphone. "Alright dudes and dudettes, this is the main event of the evening! This match is one fall with a one hour time limit, and it's for the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Championship!" Kahuna announced as the crowd cheered. Turning to Starbuck's corner, Kahuna continued, "First, on my right, from Los Angeles, California, weighing in tonight at 245 pounds, the challenger, Dick Starbuck!" The crowd went wild again as Starbuck saluted them.

"And now, on my left," Kahuna went on, turning to the masked man's corner, "from parts unknown, weighing in tonight at 275 pounds, the reigning and defending Pacific Coast Heavyweight Champion, The Ace!" Taking the title belt from around his waist and slinging it over his shoulder, Ace paced around the ring and taunted the booing fans, telling them that he would be leaving the match with the Pacific Coast title still around his waist at the end of the night.

"You're goin' down, Ace!" Broseph called among the other taunts the fans were throwing back at Ace. "Starbuck's takin' your belt tonight!"

"You couldn't wrestle your way out of a wet paper bag!" Lo also yelled at the masked man.

After Starbuck and Ace got their pre-match instructions from the referee, who then took the Pacific Coast title belt and showed it off to the fans in the gym, the ref ordered the bell rung to start the match. The two wrestlers started out with a collar-and-elbow lockup in the middle of the ring and jockeyed for position before Starbuck backed Ace into a corner and the referee forced a break of the hold, which Starbuck did cleanly. He and Ace then returned to the middle of the ring and locked up in collar-and-elbow again, maneuvering around until this time, Ace backed Starbuck into an opposite corner. When the referee ordered another break though, Ace appeared to break the hold cleanly, but then chopped Starbuck in the chest with an open hand, making the fans boo. Starbuck responded by coming from the corner with several chops of his own to Ace's chest and backed him toward the ropes as the crowd came alive, then he Irish whipped the masked man to the opposite side and dropkicked him on the rebound, knocking him through the ropes to the ringside floor as the fans cheered.

"You suck, Ace!" Reef taunted the masked man as he got up off the floor nearby. "My grandma can wrestle better than you and she's almost 70!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, BOY?" Ace growled at Reef in response with what sounded like a Texas drawl, getting right in his face as he said it and making Reef back down.

"Smooth move there, champ," Fin said to a stunned-looking Reef with a hint of sarcasm while Ace returned to the ring. "Way to tick off King Kong there."

After stepping through the ropes, Ace walked into a clothesline from Starbuck, who then waited for his foe to get back to his feet before hitting a spin kick to the face to drop him to the mat again. Starbuck went for the pin on Ace and hooked the leg, but only got a two-count from the referee before Ace kicked out. After Ace got up again, Starbuck connected with a back elbow to the masked man and went for another whip to the ropes, but the California surfer telegraphed a backdrop attempt and Ace took advantage by kicking him in the gut and taking him over with a double-underhook suplex. Ace then attempted a pin on Starbuck, who kicked out at two to the relief of the fans. Starbuck then fell victim to a few stomps to his legs by Ace to wear him down before his opponent picked him up, whipped him to the ropes and took him down to the mat again with a back suplex before another pin attempt, which got Ace only a two-count.

"C'mon Starbuck, fight back!" Ripper called to Starbuck in the ring. "Don't let him beat you, mate!"

Ace grabbed Starbuck and drove him into a corner, driving his shoulder battering ram-style into his opponent's stomach a few times to try to take the wind out of his sails before delivering a short powerbomb to plant Starbuck on the canvas for another pin attempt. Starbuck kicked out at the two-count, but then Ace rebounded off the ropes and delivered an elbowdrop to the chest, then got up and waited for Starbuck to get to his feet while positioning himself behind his opponent before locking on a sleeperhold. Starbuck struggled to try to escape the sleeperhold for a few moments before making his way to the ropes to force Ace to break the hold, but the masked man quickly clamped the hold back on once they moved away from the ropes. Starbuck again tried to power out of the sleeper, but then began to show signs of getting groggy as Ace let him fall to the mat while keeping the submission hold on him.

"Man, that's not looking good for him right now," Johnny said to Emma about Starbuck.

"Come on Starbuck, fight your way out! You can do it!" Emma yelled before she began a chant of "Starbuck! Starbuck! Starbuck!", which the fans quickly picked up on and chanted in unison to rally their hero as the referee checked Starbuck's condition by lifting his left arm, which dropped to the mat once, then dropped a second time when the ref checked again. Starbuck's arm was then lifted a third time and the referee let it go, expecting it to drop a third time...

...but that time, Starbuck kept his arm in the air and clenched his fist, setting the fans off as he showed signs of rallying back from the sleeperhold thanks to the fans' chants. The crowd's cheering reached a crescendo as Starbuck got back to his feet, then elbowed Ace in the gut three times to force the masked man to let the sleeperhold go. Rebounding off the ropes, Starbuck then hit a dropkick on Ace to knock him to the mat, then kipped up to his feet and attempted to go for Ace's mask, trying to pull it off as the crowd rooted for him to do it.

"YEAH!" an enthusiastic Kelly yelled excitedly. "Rip his mask off, Starbuck!"

"Go for it man, show us who he is!" David joined in with zest.

The referee attempted to stop Starbuck from pulling off Ace's mask when Ace drove his elbow into his foe's stomach, then whipped him into the corner turnbuckles and charged at him for an avalanche attempt, but Starbuck stopped him with a raised foot to the face. A staggering Ace then got hit with a power drive elbow out of the corner to the canvas by Starbuck, who then got the crowd to their feet as he signalled for his signature "Hang Ten" submission hold. Hooking Ace's feet in front of his knees, Starbuck then grabbed the masked man's wrists and pulled back on his arms, putting pressure on his shoulder blades and lower back. Knowing he had no way to escape the hold, Ace had no choice but to submit to the "Hang Ten" and the referee ordered the bell rung, setting off the loudest cheers of the night as the fans, including Reef and his friends at ringside, celebrated Starbuck's title victory.

"WOO-_HOOOO!_" Fin yelled gleefully among the celebrating crowd, raising her fists in the air in triumph as the referee retrieved the Pacific Coast title belt to hand to Starbuck. "Right on! He got the win, _yeah!_"

Kahuna then climbed into the ring with the house microphone. "Dudes and dudettes," he announced over the wild cheering, "your winner of the match, and the NEW Pacific Coast Heavyweight Champion... DICK STARBUCK!" Starbuck then raised the championship belt over his head to the delight of the cheering fans as he paraded it around the ring, then stopped at the front row where a pleased-looking Fin, Reef and company were and pointed their way, calling to them "This one's for you guys!"

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**Next chapter, what happens the day after when David goes back home for the week, and Starbuck and Fin do a little farewell bonding.**

**Reviews and comments are welcome as always.  
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	5. Leavin' on a Seaplane

**CHAPTER 5 - LEAVIN' ON A SEAPLANE (OR WE'VE GOT WHITE POINT)**

**So, here's the final chapter in this fanfic. On a pop culture note, this chapter's main title is a reference to the title of the 1969 Peter, Paul and Mary song "Leavin' on a Jet Plane", while the White Point mentioned in the alternate title refers to a surfing and vacation resort in Nova Scotia, Canada. Speaking of Nova Scotia, Fin's mention of being from Halifax in the Season Two episode "Will the Real Broseph Please Stand Up" would hereby make that city Fin's hometown in official _Stoked_ canon, so I'm including it here later in this chapter.**

**The Cullens of Death Metal - I liked the Rey Misterio reference you made in your review. I got a good laugh from it, though The Ace is more of an old-school masked wrestler. Also, the promotion Starbuck and Ace were wrestling in in Chapter 4 isn't WWE (which wouldn't visit small towns like Sunset Beach anyway), but more like an indy promotion with an old-school feel, much like 1980s-era NWA wrestling (search for it on YouTube under "NWA Wrestling" to see what I mean)**. **And assuming that Kahuna is at least in his mid-50s, that would actually make Starbuck, who'd be in his early-30s, his nephew, but no worries. About where Kahuna's originally from in California, I noticed you mentioned in your "Davy Jones Gold Mine" fic that he was from San Francisco. I hadn't determined a hometown for Kahuna myself in my storyline as I wrote it, but I could make San Francisco his hometown in my future stories based on what you covered in Chapter 1 of your story.**

**So here we go...**

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The following Sunday morning after check-out time at the hotel, Reef and the gang, along with Kelly, David and Starbuck, travelled into Sunset Beach on the Whalebus. The gang went along to see off Starbuck, who would be catching a ride to Campbell River with some of the wrestlers from the wrestling show the night before, while Kelly went to the seaplane terminal with David to say goodbye to him for the time being before he took the seaplane back home to Victoria.

Down at the seaplane boarding dock, David was taking his time saying goodbye to Kelly, allowing the moment to linger as he held his girlfriend's hands in his own. "Well, this is it," he said to Kelly as he continued staring into her eyes. "I got to get back to Victoria and another week in the trenches."

"I know," Kelly responded, "but I wish you didn't have to go. It seems like the weekend goes by too fast when you're here and I feel like I don't have enough time to enjoy your company."

"Yeah, I feel the same way about you," David said. "I was jazzed about learning to surf with you yesterday, and who knew the two of us could have fun at a wrestling show like we did? That guitar jam session with Broseph and Ripper down at the beach afterward was fun too, but you know what really amazed me? Listening to you sing along with some of the songs we played while the gang hung out with us. You're really quite a good singer."

Kelly blushed slightly on David's compliment of her singing ability. "_Aww_, thank you," she said with an embarrassed smile and a giggle. "It's just something I like to do sometimes." Pausing for a moment, she had something on her mind that she wanted to say to David. "David, there's something I want to tell you," she began, "but I feel like I'd be rushing to say it because it seems so soon..."

"It's okay, you can say it," David reassured her. "Go ahead."

Kelly felt better about being able to say what she wanted to, but still felt slightly uneasy. "I think..." she said to David with a moment of hesitation. "I think I'm in love with you."

David smiled at Kelly as he heard those words. "That's just what I wanted to say to you," he said to her in response. "I think I'm in love with you too." Taking his right hand, David cupped it to Kelly's left cheek and caressed it as she smiled back at him, then put his arms around her waist while she raised her arms to put around his neck as the two slowly drew close, then began to kiss while Kelly raised her left foot behind her.

As Kelly and David continued kissing, the flight attendant on the seaplane leaned out the door and called to the couple, "Last call for passengers for the flight to Victoria."

With his attention caught by the flight call, David ended the kiss with Kelly. "Sorry, that's my cue," he said to her. "I gotta jet. I'll call you when I make it back home."

Kelly was unwilling to let go of David, but she knew she had to so he could get on the plane back to Victoria. "Okay," she agreed. "I'll see you next time you're ready to come back."

"Sure," David said as he slung his guitar case over his back and picked up his suitcase. "Or when you're able to afford to, you can come down to Victoria one weekend to see me." Stroking Kelly's hair and giving her one more small kiss, he then said to her as he turned to leave, "'Bye Kelly, I'll see you later."

"See you later, David," Kelly said as she blew a kiss to him, then waved to him and watched him wave back before he got inside the seaplane, whose door was then pulled closed as the engines engaged. After a few more minutes as all the passengers were seated, Kelly watched as the seaplane pulled away from the dock and glided along the water for a few moments before it pulled up and away, beginning its flight south toward Victoria. Kelly was still smiling as she watched the plane take flight, but as it flew further away and out of sight, her smile faded and she could feel her eyes watering, then as she bowed her head slightly, a tear ran down her left cheek, then one down her right.

Emma, who had been watching the goodbye from a short distance off, then walked up to Kelly from behind. "Hey Kelly, what's wrong?" Emma asked, putting her hand on her Pirate Ship boss's shoulder.

"What?" Kelly, who was surprised to find Emma beside her, replied before hastily wiping away her tears. "Oh, it's nothing. I didn't even realize you were there."

"Sorry if I startled you," Emma apologized. "You just looked a little sad or something. Are you okay? I know it's none of my business, but I wanted to ask."

"It's okay," Kelly said as she began walking along the dock toward the ramp to the small seaplane terminal building, with Emma following along. "Ever since I first met David last week, I've loved having him around and I always enjoy his visits when he's here. I wanted to make a good impression on him by being nice around him and not acting like...well, like such a you-know-what with you and Lo, but I found the more I was around him, the kindness he showed me rubbed off more on me and the more I actually wanted to be nice, not like I was since grom initiation."

"Yeah, I've kind of noticed that," Emma said. "I think there's a 'but' in there somewhere though..."

"But," Kelly continued, "I admit I do feel a little sad when he leaves to go home after the weekend. I just miss him when he's not around."

"I understand," a sympathetic Emma said. "But you keep in touch with him in between visits, like on the phone or online, right?"

"Yeah, I do," Kelly admitted. "It's not quite the same, but it does make me feel better when I can talk on the phone with him or webcam-chat with him."

"That's good," Emma said. "Besides," she added in an attempt to cheer Kelly up, "you know you're not alone here, right? You've got friends here, like Ripper, Lance, Johnny and Ty - and I hear you bonded a bit with Fin yesterday when she taught you and David how to surf."

"It was nothing special," Kelly said, trying to downplay what Emma told her. "I offered to get her free meals at the Pirate Ship in exchange for continuing to teach me to surf. It's no big deal."

"I don't know, that seems like a pretty big breakthrough to me," Emma said. "From grom initiation until David met Fin Friday night, she and you barely traded two words with each other. Free meals for surf lessons sounds like a big step ahead, and that sounds good to me."

Kelly smirked uneasily for a moment before responding to Emma. "Yeah, you're right," she said with resignation. As they reached the top of the ramp and passed the terminal building, Kelly then asked, "Emma?"

"Yeah?" Emma replied.

Just then, Kelly turned toward Emma and gave her a big hug. "Thank you for understanding," Kelly said in a half-whisper.

Initially surprised by Kelly hugging her, Emma responded in kind and returned the hug. "No problem," she said. "That's what friends are for." Kelly and Emma then walked the rest of the way to where the Whalebus was parked, where Starbuck was still talking with Reef, Fin and the rest of the gang.

"Hey, it's about time you two got back here," Fin said to Kelly and Emma as they arrived. "I was just about to go get you for a group photo with Dick. You both in?"

"Cool, I'd love to," Emma agreed.

"Sure, I'm in," Kelly said.

"Hey Dick, we've got our last two in for the group photo," Fin called over to Starbuck. "Ready to go?"

"Sure thing, whenever you're ready," Starbuck replied.

Fin then took her digital camera and walked over to the Kahuna, who would be taking the picture. "Okay, you know what to do here, right?" Fin said as she handed her camera to Kahuna. "Just get everyone in the group framed in the screen on the back and snap the picture. After that, I want to get a picture or two of just me and Dick together."

"No problemo, chiquita," Kahuna replied in his usual laid-back fashion. Fin then ran back to the group to get into the shot. The group then posed with Starbuck standing in the middle of the back row, with Fin standing on his right with Lo and Broseph beside her, and Reef on his left with Emma and Johnny beside Reef, while Ripper, Kelly and Lance kneeled in the front row. "Okay dudes and dudettes," Kahuna said once he got the entire group framed up, "say 'Hang Ten'!"

"Hang Ten!" the group responded as Kahuna snapped the picture.

"Oops, wait a sec," Kahuna said as he took a look at the result in the camera's LCD screen. "Think I might've goofed on this one."

"Why, what happened?" Fin asked as she walked over to Kahuna to see the result. Taking a look herself, she asked, "Kahuna, how'd your finger get into the shot?" She noticed that the tip of Kahuna's left ring finger took up most of the image, obscuring almost everyone in the picture. As they heard Fin comment, the rest of the group groaned over the ruined shot.

"Sorry 'bout that, Fin," Kahuna said. "Let's give this another shot." After Fin returned to the group pose, Kahuna tried again and snapped the picture, this time getting the right result as he showed Starbuck and the gang the photo, with everyone in the group smiling.

"Looks great, thanks Kahuna," a pleased Fin remarked. "I want to get a shot or two now of just me and Dick, if he wouldn't mind."

"Sure, sounds awesome," Starbuck said. Kahuna then got Fin and Starbuck standing together for the picture, but the resulting first shot showed Fin reacting angrily to Reef jumping into the picture and making rabbit ears with his fingers behind Fin's head. The next shot had Fin catching Reef in a headlock while gleefully messing up the cocky surfer's hair to his chagrin as Starbuck, who was standing behind them, laughed at the scene he was watching. The third time proved the charm as the final shot was what Fin wanted, of herself and Starbuck standing and smiling with her left arm around his waist while his right arm was over her shoulders.

"That looks great," Fin said as she looked at the end result. "This one's a keeper for sure."

"Agreed, looks totally rad," Starbuck said, also admiring the picture. "If I gave you my e-mail, could you send me a copy? That's gonna look great for the ol' scrapbook."

"Sure, I'd love to," Fin replied. "So when do you plan to come back here?"

"_Hmm_, far as I know," Starbuck said, "there's supposed to be another Sunset Beach show on the sched in November. That's after I get back from a fall tour with another wrestling group through the Maritimes. I'll be tourin' through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia during September and October."

"Really?" Fin said, brightening up on hearing what Starbuck's plans were. "That's so cool! I'm from Nova Scotia myself, Halifax-born and raised. You know about any of the cool surfing spots around Nova Scotia?"

"Like White Point near Liverpool?" Starbuck said. "I hear it's got gnarly waves."

"Awesome!" Fin said. "I'll be back in Halifax when school starts again in September, so if you get a chance, we should get together one weekend and go surf White Point. Trust me, you'll dig it."

"Consider it a date then," Starbuck said with a grin. Just then, a car horn began honking, getting Starbuck's attention as he saw a minivan, carrying a group of wrestlers he was travelling with, parked in front of the Whalebus.

"Yo, dude," one of the wrestlers, who was driving the minivan, said. "You all set to go?"

"I'll be there in a minute," Starbuck called back. "Just sayin' goodbye to a few friends." After saying his goodbyes to the rest of the gang, he then turned to Fin, who he was saving for last. "Well, duty calls," Starbuck said to Fin. "I've got a show in Campbell River tomorrow night, Courtenay on Tuesday, Powell River on Wednesday and then Vancouver on Friday. Can't let the fans down."

"True that," Fin agreed. "So I'll give you my e-mail address and e-mail you the picture of the two of us first chance I get. Cool?"

"For sure," Starbuck replied as he and Fin traded e-mail addresses. "And I'll e-mail you when I'm in Halifax and I got a day off so we can head to White Point with your folks." Fin and Starbuck then shared a goodbye hug before the minivan horn sounded again. "Sorry, gotta split," Starbuck then said as he grabbed his surfboard and his gym bag and started for the minivan. "It's been chill hangin' and surfin' with you guys, and see you in September, Fin," he added as Fin and the rest of the gang returned the farewell.

After Starbuck strapped his surfboard on top of the minivan and then got in and left with the other wrestlers for Campbell River, Emma came up to a still-stoked Fin and said, "Wow Fin, you're so lucky! It's not often you get to hang out with one of the best surfers out there today, and you're gonna get to do it again when you go back home in September!"

"What can I say, it's a lucky break," Fin remarked. "It surprised me that Dick knew who I was, but getting to hang with him was such a blast."

"When you surf with him again back home, you gotta send us pictures," Lo said.

"Count on it," Fin said. Right as she said it, Fin and the other girls heard a commotion and turned to see that the guys, except for Johnny, were clowning around. Reef and Broseph had each other trapped in headlocks, while Ripper and Lance were chopping at each other's chests with open hands while each yelled "WHOOOOO!" in turn.

"What the heck are those guys doing?" a puzzled Kelly asked, raising an eyebrow while placing her hands on her hips.

"Looks like they're trying to get last night's show out of their system," Lo commented.

"Well," said Emma with a shrug and a smirk, "might as well let them. They look like they're having fun doing it anyway."

"Yeah, that's guys for you," Fin said with a roll of her eyes upward as the rest of the girls laughed.

**THE END**

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**Well, that puts the wraps on my latest fanfic. I figured that giving Kelly another touch of vulnerability in this chapter (as I did in "Luck Has a Way" earlier), and having Emma reach out to her followed by Kelly explaining the reasons behind her change in attitude to Emma, would go a ways toward making Kelly more of a sympathetic character. This is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Since I'm turning Kelly into a good character (albeit one with an edge, like Nikki in _6teen_ or Gwen during _Total Drama Island_), my future stories are going to need a new antagonist to fill the role Kelly currently plays on the show, so that's what I'm planning for the next Kelly-centric fanfic I write.**

**On a side note, the chest-chopping routine and "WHOOOOO!" yells Ripper and Lance were doing while clowning around at the end of the chapter are a nod to wrestling legend "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.**

**So while that ends this fanfic, the next one coming from me will be for those jonesing for some ReeFin action, so stay tuned. :D**

**Meanwhile, keep the reviews and comments coming.  
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